W42

W42 GmbH was founded in 2005 and is a SME specialized on the rational strain development of microorganism (methylotrophic yeast, filamentous fungi, Actinomycetes) working in the field of industrial (white) biotechnology, offering process development for enzyme production and application. W42 has a strong track record in the construction of industrial producer strains for technical enzymes using its own and independent expression platform Pichia pastoris. Several different options e.g. promoter, location (intra- extracellular or surface display), resistance marker, multi-copy screening are available. Several strains are running successfully on industrial scale for the production of enzymes, which are used for the conversion of natural products (antibiotics) or production of fine chemicals, mainly on the Chinese market. Furthermore W42 has the competence for process development comprising besides the rational strain improvement also the fermentation, product enrichment/purification, enzyme immobilisation and biocatalysis. W42 GmbH is located in Dortmund, Germany (Ruhr Area ‘Ruhrgebiet’), and is an independent managed company comprising three co-workers. W42 GmbH is partner in the EU project named TargetFish, dealing with the development of virus based vaccines for fish-farming.

Role in the project:

W42 aims at the “proof of concept” for 4 recombinant proteins that will be used in WP3 and WP5. If more recombinant proteins are needed they will be charged to the relevant partners’ budget.

Construction of high-producer strains for selected proteins/vaccines based on our expression platform;

Process development for fermentation and DSP (purification/enrichment strategies);

Supply of proteins (pure or cell free extracts) on small scale for feeding experiments;

Enabling/organising the industrial production of proteins or whole cell vaccines.

Key persons involved:

Dr. Ansgar Stratmann, CEO and founder of W42 Industrial Biotechnology GmbH, is a microbiologist with long-time experience in project management in industry and university. His field of activity is rational strain development by genetic engineering, biochemistry and process development (fermentation, DSP). He was Postdoc at Novartis Pharma AG in Basel for three years and Head of Microbiology at Anbics Laboratories AG (Munich) for three years. He was group leader at the University of Wuppertal in EU GENOVA project (QLK3-CT-1999-00095). He has a long track record of industrial enzyme producer strains.

Dr. Ulrich Giesecke, CSO and Co-founder of W42 is a chemist/biotechnologist with long-time experience in research, project management and production-plant set up. He was group leader biocatalysis at Roche diagnostics GmbH for 12 years. For three years he was managing director of Anbics AG (Munich). His field of activity is process development in fermentation, DSP (incl. immobilization) and biocatalysis.

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This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 634429. This output reflects the views only of the author(s), and the European Union cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.